One, a Scottish prisoner of the Germans named Stanley Stuart Gilder, later described in a report to British authorities why the men couldn't have been killed as late as the summer of 1941: Their boots were too new to have been used in prison for long, and they were wearing greatcoats.

Perhaps they come from the nearby foothills where there is farming, and lean farming for what it is worth — old grandmothers with their gums and grips, worn leather-skinned old men with wind-carved scowls, unmemorable young men in their grandfathers 'greatcoats too big for their shivering and thin forms.

Once upon a time, the respective university grounds were full to bursting for these two November matches, school parties a-tizz with shrill excitement and the touchline press bench packed tight with the Fleet Street No1s in their greatcoats, knowingly puffing on their pipes and pontificating on each team's chances for the upcoming match at Twickenham.